# Seth Berman

> Seth Berman co-founded Susa Ventures in 2013 and has since backed 10 unicorns across roughly 100 seed-stage investments, including Robinhood, Flexport, and Expanse. He brings an unusual background to venture capital - nearly a decade as VP of Strategic Marketing at Richemont Group (Cartier, Net-A-Porter, Montblanc) - giving him a luxury-brand consumer lens that shaped Susa's focus on distribution, compounding moats, and founder-market fit. He has since launched Kivu Ventures, a Series A/B fund targeting vertical AI, healthcare, and logistics, with investment partners including Frame.io co-founder Emery Wells and Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra.

- **Role:** General Partner at Susa Ventures; Founder & General Partner at Kivu Ventures
- **Organizations:** Susa Ventures, Kivu Ventures
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's degrees in Business and Finance, University of Colorado Boulder
- **Known for:** Co-founded Susa Ventures (2013), one of the earliest dedicated seed funds in San Francisco, Backed 10 unicorns across approximately 100 seed investments, Led Susa's seed investment in Robinhood and served as the sole institutional investor willing to open books for FINRA approval

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Coordinator at The Firm
- **2003** — Director of Brand Partnerships at American Vantage Media
- **2004** — Joined Richemont Group as VP of Strategic Marketing (Cartier, Net-A-Porter, Montblanc, Chloé)
- **2009** — Began angel investing in early-stage startups
- **2010** — Started attending Y Combinator demo days; invested in ~30 companies including Nest and Optimizely
- **2013** — Co-founded Susa Ventures with Chad Byers and Leo Polovets
- **2013** — Led Susa's seed investment in Robinhood, serving as investor of record for FINRA approval
- **2016** — Led Susa's investment in Flexport
- **2019** — Susa Ventures closed $140M Fund III
- **2021** — Expanse acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $800M (Susa portfolio exit)
- **2023** — Founded Kivu Ventures, a Series A/B fund focused on vertical AI, healthcare, fintech, and logistics
- **2025** — Susa Ventures raised $175M in new capital (Fund V); Kivu led $31.5M Series A for HOPPR (AI medical imaging)
- **2025** — Kivu Ventures participated in $50M Series B for Plenful (AI healthcare workflows)

## Achievements

- Co-founded Susa Ventures (2013), one of the earliest dedicated seed funds in San Francisco
- Backed 10 unicorns across approximately 100 seed investments
- Led Susa's seed investment in Robinhood and served as the sole institutional investor willing to open books for FINRA approval
- Led Susa's early investment in Flexport, now one of the world's largest digital freight forwarding platforms
- Led Susa's investment in Expanse, acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $800M
- Built Susa's scout network embedded at companies like Robinhood, Stripe, Facebook, and Google
- Launched Kivu Ventures with a team including Frame.io co-founder Emery Wells and Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra
- Susa portfolio includes Robinhood (IPO), Flexport, Mux, Viz.ai, Human Interest, Pulley, and 25+ more

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Kivu Ventures led $31.5M Series A for HOPPR, an AI infrastructure platform for medical imaging
- **2025-04** — Kivu Ventures participated in $50M Series B for Plenful, AI workflow automation for healthcare
- **2025-03** — Susa Ventures raised $175M in new capital for its latest fund
- **2025-03** — Seth Berman appeared on 'We The Builders' podcast (E20) discussing the history and state of early-stage venture capital

## Links

- Website: https://susaventures.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgberman
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SethGB
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusaVentures/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/seth-berman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-17